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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29326797">The Muse</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VillainousShakespeare/pseuds/VillainousShakespeare'>VillainousShakespeare</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In The Timing [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleson RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Birthday, Established couple, F/M, Jealousy, Kissing, Pouting, brief sex scene, surprise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:47:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29326797</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VillainousShakespeare/pseuds/VillainousShakespeare</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom is jealous when you begin working on a project with Benedict. Is it really what he believes?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tom Hiddleston/Original Female Character(s), Tom Hiddleston/Reader, Tom Hiddleston/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In The Timing [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133081</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Muse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hello!"</p><p>The happy call echoed through the rooms of your house all the way to where you sat, working feverishly on your laptop. The adorable spaniel recently curled on your feet gave a joyous call and bounded away towards the voice. Tenaciously you ignored it, wanting to finish what you were writing.</p><p>"Who's a good boy!" you heard, along with even more exuberant barks. "Hello Bobbers! Where's Mummy, hm? Darling, are you home? Where are you? I thought you were working from here today!"</p><p>Sighing, you gave in to the inevitable as your husband's words, called in an increasingly whining version of his delicious, velvety tones came nearer and nearer to where you sat.</p><p>"I'm in here," you replied at last, turning your computer screen so that it would not be visible from the doorway.</p><p>"Ah, your sanctuary, of course," Tom teased, as you heard his footsteps bounding up the stairs. </p><p>When you had moved into his home in the north of London a year ago, it had been obvious that décor was not high on Tom's list of priorities. Oh, you were sure he had had a first rate decorator, no doubt recommended by a female relative, fix up the place, but aside from the well loved books lining the walls and a few photos and framed posters the result was tastefully generic. Every room was painted in a soothing shade of white. Not exactly fuel for your creative muse.</p><p>Quite quickly you had claimed the smallest guestroom as your own. For one thing, it was hardly ever used, and for another it was far enough away from Tom's office that, you had naively hoped, it would keep him from bothering you too frequently when you were attempting to write. The walls were now colored, one a deep, rich green and the other three a cheery daffodil yellow, and the shelves of your writing influences were also home to personal talismans such as a Marti Gras mask from Venice, a tiara from your last major birthday, and a collection of Funko pops including Loki, The Tenth Doctor, and Spike. Photos from your Central Park wedding hung on the wall over your cluttered desk, and a comfortable couch just large enough for you and Bobby to cuddle sat near the window.</p><p>"There you are!" Tom appeared smiling in the doorway, reaching up to grab the top of the door frame, accentuating his long, lean body. You still startled a little every time you saw him with his newly dyed dark hair.</p><p>"Here I am," you agreed, smiling back. "I didn't expect you home until dinner time."</p><p>"Yeah. They needed to change some of the angles for the shots we planned to get, so they sent me home early."</p><p>"Oh, that's too bad," you said absently, glancing back at your computer. The minute it was out of your mouth, you regretted it.</p><p>"Too bad?" his voice went up at the end in disbelief. "That I get to come home to wife and pup early? Well, good to know where I stand, isn't it Bobby?"</p><p>The dog frisking around him whined uncertainly, and both fixed you with accusatory eyes.</p><p>Closing your eyes and taking a deep breath, you bit back the retort that popped into your brain.</p><p>"Of course not, Tom," you said, rising to walk over to him. "It's just that I have a lot of work to do."</p><p>You stood up on your tiptoes and wrapped your arms around his neck. Tom's own arms came around you automatically, pulling you into him. Despite your need to get back to your work, you felt yourself melting into the embrace. Your husband gave the absolute best hugs in the world.</p><p>"You work too hard, darling," he scolded, rubbing your back.</p><p>"Says the man who got out of bed at 4:30 this morning to run," you mumbled into his chest.</p><p>"Are you making progress on your novel?"</p><p>"No," you said evasively. "It's something different."</p><p>"Oh?"</p><p>She could feel his body stiffen against her - and not in the usual way.</p><p>"Mmhm," again you tried to keep your voice non-committal.</p><p>"So, this is that project your working on with Benedict then," he said in a bad attempt at nonchalance.</p><p>Releasing you, Tom entered your sanctuary and sat down on the sofa, legs splaying wide to take up almost all of the room.</p><p>"Yeah," you gave him a sheepish grin.</p><p>"I didn't know that was a definite go."</p><p>"Well, it is."</p><p>You didn't know why the thought of you working with Benedict bothered him so much. Ben was one of his best friends, had been one of the only non-family members at your small, impromptu wedding! But still, ever since Tom had discovered that the two of you were working on something he had gotten some strange bee in his bonnet over the idea.</p><p>"This is the first time you've written directly for an actor, isn't it?" he asked, knowing the answer full well.</p><p>"Yes. Well, unless you count In The Timing. I wrote that for you, of course, even though at the time I never thought you would actually play the role."</p><p>Tom taking on the part in your first movie script, adapted from the novel you had written after your original, brief relationship had ended abruptly, had been the most wonderful blessing in your life. It had brought you back together and reignited the passion between you. Remembering the moment you had realized that he had been chosen to play your hero, how simultaneously excited and horrified you had been, only to have him walk in the room and prove that you had never gotten over him in the slightest, you crossed to him and sat down on his lap, your irritation with his interrupting you a distant memory.</p><p>"Ah yes. That did have my name written all over it, didn't it? The dashing, rakish hero the leading lady simply could not live without."</p><p>He gave you his most devastating smile, the one that never failed to make you feel it all the way to your toes, and you leaned in to kiss him. It was sweet and hot all at once, as your kisses often were, but far too quickly he was breaking it off, to look at you probingly from his ice blue eyes.</p><p>"And now my place has been usurped," he said dramatically. </p><p>"What?"</p><p>"I am no longer your muse, it seems. And my best mate, one of the few men I would actually have trusted with you, has stolen your allegiance."</p><p>So that was it! Your handsome, movie star, fan-girl murdering husband was actually jealous! You looked at him in disbelief, barely suppressing a giggle.</p><p>"Stolen my allegiance?" you asked him.</p><p>"You'll write for him now. He will be the one to fire your imagination, to provoke that darling little crease you get between your eyebrows when you are puzzling out an idea. All your energy will be focused on Benedict and his stupid movie."</p><p>"Tom!" you did laugh now, smacking him on his well muscled chest.</p><p>"Meanwhile, I'll be left alone, my career languishing."</p><p>"You'll be off shooting Loki!" you protested. "I think your career is in perfectly good hands."</p><p>"But I like to be in your hands," he whined, moving your hands so they were up under his tight blue jumper. "They know just how to manage me."</p><p>"Someone is feeling needy tonight, isn't he?" you teased, running your palms over his chest and kissing the side of his face.</p><p>"For you, always," he said, pulling your shirt up over your head quickly.</p><p>"Well, I guess the work with Ben could wait for a little bit..."</p><p>"That's my darling girl," he grinned, before taking your breast into his eager mouth.</p><p>You did have a lot of work to do, though not on a script. Still, it could wait. Some things were more important. Things such as the love of your life's hard cock currently grinding against your ass. Eagerly you let him flip you around so that you were beneath him on the sofa, pulling down your yoga pants and slipping a hand down to test your folds.</p><p>"Always so wet for me," he sighed.</p><p>Unzipping his jeans, Tom quickly shucked them to the floor as you spread you legs in anticipation. He was back on you in a flash, lining himself up with your entrance and thrusting inside with a groan. Your legs wrapped around him, and all else was forgotten except Tom and the all consuming passion that never failed to take you by surprise whenever you were with him.</p><p>***</p><p>Three weeks later, Tom was once again feeling petulant. This time you were not one bit surprised. You were just happy that he had agreed to go, even if he was making your life miserable in the process.</p><p>"We don't have to stay that long," you assured him as he drove the jag around a corner a hair too fast.</p><p>"No, it's fine. It's not like we have any other plans tonight," he said, a pout in his voice and on his lips.</p><p>"Tom, I am so sorry," you said for the thousandth time. "I completely forgot when we were on the phone."</p><p>"Oh, that makes it all better," he snarked.</p><p>"And it was the only time Benedict was free all month," you added hastily.</p><p>"And I suppose he completely forgot as well? You certainly know how to make a chap feel loved."</p><p>You sighed and bit your lower lip. It was Tom's birthday, his 40th, and you were on your way to Benedict and Sophie's house for dinner. You had told Tom that you had reached the point in your process where you really needed to consult with him, and it was the only opportunity to do so before he headed off to film Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Tom of all people should understand how busy schedules could dictate peoples' lives!</p><p>Needless to say, your husband was not best pleased. He had continued to be irritated by your work with his friend, the more so since you would not tell him any of the details of the project. It was strictly confidential, you informed him. Added to this, every time he walked into your room when you were working on it, you instantly shut your laptop or got off the phone. The whole situation had made him completely insufferable.</p><p>When you had first told him that the two of you would be dining at your friends' on Tuesday for a working meal, he had looked like such a hurt puppy that you had been hit by a wave of guilt. You had almost broken at that point, but you had given yourself a good mental shake and reminded yourself that you had nothing to be sorry about.</p><p>"The food is going to be awful," he sulked.</p><p>"You love Sophie's cooking! And you love Benedict."</p><p>"No I don't, he's a wanker."</p><p>"Tom!"</p><p>"Not bad enough that he steals my wife, he has to steal my birthday too."</p><p>"He did not steal your wife!"</p><p>"I suppose turning 40 must seem like nothing to someone as old as he is."</p><p>"Thomas William Hiddleston, for someone with a reputation for being the most gracious, polite man on the planet, you are a complete spoiled brat when you want to be!"</p><p>Tom didn't respond to that, just stared petulantly out the window and drove on. You reached Ben and Sophie's quickly since they didn't live that far - if it had been a nicer night you could have walked. Tom was still gentleman enough to open your door and help you out of the car, but he scowled at the bottle of wine in your hands.</p><p>"Shouldn't they be bringing me things?" he asked under his breath.</p><p>"Stop that! Now, promise me you will behave yourself! These are some of our closest friends!"</p><p>"Hmph!"</p><p>"You're going to regret this," you warned.</p><p>"I already do."</p><p>You rolled your eyes and gave up. Tom rarely got into these moods, but when he did there was no dealing with him. Taking his hand, you hauled him up the steps and rang the bell, a fluttering feeling in your stomach.</p><p>The door opened and Benedict met you with a smile.</p><p>"Ah, the Hiddlestons! Welcome you two! So happy to have you. Come on in, Soph is in the big room in back," he said just a little too loudly. </p><p>Following Benedict, you walked into his home and down the hall. As you reached the large family room your anticipation mounted. Finally you rounded the corner, biting your lower lip.</p><p>“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”</p><p>About fifty people, all close friends and family members, shouted at the top of their lungs. Noise makers and horns were blown and a shower of confetti was flung at the three of you by widely grinning idiots.</p><p>"What the... How did you... I... I am overwhelmed! I'm speechless!" Tom stuttered, staring at a room full of his loved ones with his jaw on the floor.</p><p>"There's a first time for everything!" Luke called out from the back of the room.</p><p>"Stuff it you!" Tom laughed, looking around. "Em, Sarah, you're both here!"</p><p>"Of course we are, you idiot," his sister Emma laughed.</p><p>"You didn't think I would miss seeing someone getting the better of you, did you?" Sarah added.</p><p>"You planned all this?" he asked Ben.</p><p>"Not in the slightest," Benedict laughed. "This was your lovely wife's doing. I was merely her willing accomplice."</p><p>"So all those phone calls... and the writing?"</p><p>"Planning and email invitations," you grinned at him. "We wanted to make sure everything was perfect."</p><p>Tom's eyes were suspiciously shiny as he looked at you. You could not help grinning like an idiot. It was so rare that you were able to take him completely by surprise.</p><p>"You really didn't know?" his Mother asked, coming up to hug him.</p><p>"I had no idea."</p><p>"I guess someone's been 'Loki'd'" Ben laughed, twirling an imaginary mustache.</p><p>"Don't tell me Horowitz is here too?"</p><p>"He's not, but he sends his love," you told him.</p><p>"I have been a right ass," he said, looking at you with a wavering chin.</p><p>"I did try to tell you that," you replied lovingly. </p><p>"And you are the best wife ever."</p><p>"Hear hear!" Sophie cheered.</p><p>"Happy Birthday, darling," you said quietly, kissing his cheek. "I love you. And you'll always be my muse."</p><p>"I love you too," he declared, and then swept you into his arms to bend you backwards and kiss you senseless as another cheer rose from the gathered friends.</p><p>"I will show you how truly grateful I am when we get home," he said, for your ears only.</p><p>"And I will give you the rest of your birthday present," you answered with a wink.</p><p>"Get a room!" Emma piped in.</p><p>Tom laughed again and righted you to standing.</p><p>"I am well and truly overwhelmed. Thank you all so much for being here. Now, to the important part. Is there cake?"</p><p>A round of laughter greeted the question, and he shot you another smile just for you. It was moments like this, you decided, that you lived for.</p><p>
  
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Happy 40th Birthday to our beloved Thomas William Hiddleston, Muse Extraordinaire!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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